Author
Topic: Resolution of A/D Circuitry? (Read 388 times)

So I was just curious about the resolution of the D/A circuitry in the minibrute. I mean the circuits that allow the digital parts, MIDI and LFO, to connect to the analog parts of the synth.

The reason I'm asking is that I noticed a couple minor issues which I was wondering whether a firmware update could ever fix/improve.

First, with the mod wheel: When set to cutoff, you can hear a faint "grinding" noise when moving the wheel. (more noticeable at certain settings.) I would assume that this is due to the 7-bit resolution in a MIDI Mod wheel message. But I was wondering, is the DAC that transfers mod wheel values to voltages for the VCF also only 7 or 8 bit resolution? If not, would it be conceivable that the firmware could be updated to do some simple interpolation, to reduce the noise from the low-ish resolution of the mod wheel command?

Second, with the LFO routed to pitch, at fast and deep modulation, I can hear what I think is noticeable discrete steps between pitches, sounding more like an arpeggio than smooth slides in pitch. Same question, is this a limitation in the resolution of the hardware, or just how the firmware is? And, if the latter, could it be improved? I would guess that it could be a matter of both the resolution of the DAC used, as well as the "sample rate" of the LFO.

These are both very minor issues, mostly me just being curious as to the workings of this awesome synth.